Ivax Corp

Ivax Corp.'s Buyout of Competitor Gets FTC Approval: The Miami-based firm, the nation's No. 1 generic drug company, received approval from antitrust regulators to buy Zenith Laboratories, but only after agreeing not to monopolize sales of the heart drug Verapamil ER. The drug accounted for about $146 million in Ivax sales last year. Ivax signed a legally binding agreement concerning the drug, sold under the brand name Calan SR. Ivax and Northvale, N.J.

Ivax Corp. said a U.S. District Court judge invalidated American BioScience Inc.'s patent claims on Ivax's generic version of Taxol, the latest in a long-running patent dispute over the cancer drug. Ivax last month asked the judge in Los Angeles to rule that a Taxol-related patent held by ABI was invalid because it didn't cover anything new. Ivax has accused the drug's original marketer, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.

Bergen Brunswig Corp. called off its planned $1.4-billion merger with Miami-based Ivax Corp., ending a deal that had been criticized by Wall Street analysts since it was announced four months ago. The giant Orange-based drug distributor and the maker of generic drugs blamed each other for the breakup. Bergen said it will sue its erstwhile partner in a New York federal court today.

Generic drug maker Ivax Corp. said it has received conditional approval from U.S. regulators to sell copycat forms of Glucophage, the world's top-selling diabetes medicine. Miami-based Ivax said it won approvable status from the Food and Drug Administration for the company's 500-milligram, 625-mg, 750-mg, 850-mg and 1000-mg versions of the drug. Ivax said final approval was subject to resolving issues involving pediatric labeling for the branded version. Shares of Ivax rose 65 cents to $20.

Medical supplies distributor Bergen Brunswig Corp. said it has settled its lawsuit with onetime acquisition target Ivax Corp. Terms of the settlement have not been disclosed, and records in the lawsuit have been sealed by the court at the request of the two companies. Bergen, one of the nation's largest drug and surgical supply distributors, said in November that it would acquire generic-drug maker Ivax in a $1.6-billion stock swap.

Ivax Corp. faces a revived legal challenge to its generic version of the top-selling Taxol cancer drug, after a federal appeals court told a trial judge to reexamine the Food and Drug Administration's approval of the Ivax product. The ruling is the latest in a multifaceted legal fight involving Ivax, Taxol manufacturer Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and American BioScience Inc., which says it has a patented method to reduce the drug's side effects. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C.

Ivax Corp. denied allegations of securities fraud contained in a lawsuit brought by the former chairman of McGaw Inc. Ivax, a Miami maker of generic drugs, said Friday that the lawsuit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana by former McGaw Chairman James M. Sweeney, is without merit. Both the corporation and Chairman Phillip Frost were named as defendants. "We intend to defend the suit vigorously," Ivax's general counsel, Armando A. Tabernilla, said in a statement.

Ivax Corp. said a U.S. District Court judge invalidated American BioScience Inc.'s patent claims on Ivax's generic version of Taxol, the latest in a long-running patent dispute over the cancer drug. Ivax last month asked the judge in Los Angeles to rule that a Taxol-related patent held by ABI was invalid because it didn't cover anything new. Ivax has accused the drug's original marketer, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.

Troubled pharmaceutical concern Ivax Corp. plans to sell its Irvine-based McGaw unit for $320 million in cash, well below the $440 million it paid for the company three years ago. B. Braun of America Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Germany's Braun Melsungen AG, will acquire McGaw, a major Orange County employer. Braun said it would pay up to $80 million more for the company over a period of years, depending on McGaw's financial performance.

Johnson Products Co., a hair care goods manufacturer that ranks among the nation's largest black-owned companies, said Monday that it has agreed to be acquired by pharmaceuticals producer Ivax Corp. in a transaction valued at between $61 million and $73 million. The buyout is considered a milestone in the entrepreneurial history of African-Americans because it involves one of the nation's most successful, high-profile black manufacturers.

Ivax Corp. may lose its right to sell a generic form of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s Taxol cancer drug after an appeals court Tuesday said the Food and Drug Administration erred in approving the generic. Ivax shares plunged as much as 11% and Bristol-Myers shares rose. A third drug maker, American BioScience Inc., holds a patent on Taxol, and successfully argued to the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia that the FDA improperly approved the generic.

Ivax Corp. faces a revived legal challenge to its generic version of the top-selling Taxol cancer drug, after a federal appeals court told a trial judge to reexamine the Food and Drug Administration's approval of the Ivax product. The ruling is the latest in a multifaceted legal fight involving Ivax, Taxol manufacturer Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and American BioScience Inc., which says it has a patented method to reduce the drug's side effects. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C.

Generic drug maker Ivax Corp. said it has formed a definitive agreement to acquire Long Beach-based business-to-business company B2bstores.com for an undisclosed amount in a move to take its Ivax Diagnostics unit public. The Net operations of B2bstores.com, which laid off employees and slashed spending in August, would be discontinued. Ivax would gain B2bstores.com's assets.

Chemical giant DuPont Co. said Wednesday that third-quarter operating earnings fell 14% because of surging raw material costs and the weak euro. It said those same problems could hurt it over the remainder of the year. DuPont said operating earnings declined to $537 million, or 51 cents a share, from $625 million, or 59 cents, a year earlier. Consolidated revenue was flat at $6.4 billion.

* Germany's Deutsche Bank said it reached an agreement to acquire the 84% of National Discount Brokers Group Inc. it does not already own for $840 million, or $49 a share, a deal that values the brokerage at more than $1 billion. * * Ivax Corp., which makes a generic version of the cancer-fighting drug Taxol, said it would acquire the Mexico City-based pharmaceutical company Laboratorios Fustery for an undisclosed amount of cash and stock.

A federal judge cleared the way for Ivax Corp. to sell a generic version of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s breast cancer drug Taxol. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington rejected a request by Santa Monica-based American BioScience Inc. that was aimed at blocking the generic version.

* Germany's Deutsche Bank said it reached an agreement to acquire the 84% of National Discount Brokers Group Inc. it does not already own for $840 million, or $49 a share, a deal that values the brokerage at more than $1 billion. * * Ivax Corp., which makes a generic version of the cancer-fighting drug Taxol, said it would acquire the Mexico City-based pharmaceutical company Laboratorios Fustery for an undisclosed amount of cash and stock.